Paint trays are conventionally used in the painting industry to allow a paint roller to be evenly loaded with paint for application to a surface. Paint trays are typically rectangular with a deep well at one end and a ridged inclined portion leading into the well. The well holds the paint for the roller to be dipped into and rolled out over the ridged, inclined portion to uniformly distribute the paint to the roller. After use, the paint tray must be cleaned to remove the unused paint to avoid contaminating a later painting project. Cleaning a paint tray, however, can be messy and difficult to achieve due in part to the ridges that are found in most commercial paint trays.
To facilitate paint tray cleanup, molded disposable paint tray liners have been developed that fit into the rigid paint trays. While this solution allows re-use of the rigid paint trays, these thin plastic molded tray liners often do not fit well into the rigid paint trays. Moreover, the pre-formed shape of the liners often get bent and twisted when trying to fit the liner into a rigid paint tray. These bends can allow paint to leak into the rigid paint tray or make removing excess paint from the paint roller more difficult. United States Patent Publication No. 2009/0050632 describes an example of such a paint tray system that includes a pre-formed plastic paint tray liner that conforms to the inside surface of the paint tray. The liner is held in place within the paint tray by a peripheral liner lip which extends over the land of the tray and four corner holes for receiving four corner dowels of the tray for holding the liner in place.
The molded pre-formed design of these paint tray liners can be costly to produce and can be prohibitively expensive to use for single use purposes. As a result, attempts are commonly made by users to clean and re-use the paint tray liners for multiple use before disposal, thereby, defeating the purpose of using a paint tray liner.
Other solutions include wrapping plastic wrap or foil over the top of the rigid paint tray to prevent cross-contamination. While these methods can work, and are relatively inexpensive, they can be time-consuming to set up and messy to dispose of.
United States Patent Publication No. 2014/0260105 describes a paint tray liner formed into a bag to facilitate set-up. United States Patent Publication No. 2014/0197173 describes a paint tray liner cover held in place over a paint tray by an elasticized band sewn into the circumference of the cover. Other paint tray liners have been developed with adhesives to hold the paint tray liner in place during use. For example, United States Patent Publication No. 2007/0246474, 2006/0037960, and 2004/0112902. While less expensive than pre-formed molded paint tray liners, these specially-designed liners can still be expensive for single use. As well, these liners can be awkward and time consuming to fit into a paint tray.
As can be seen, there is a continuing need for a paint tray having an inexpensive, easy to apply, disposable paint tray liner that can be properly fitted over a rigid paint tray, and that can be easily removed and disposed of, without interfering with the function of the rigid paint tray.
This background information is provided for the purpose of making known information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.